I'm aware that vgchartz isn't 100% accurate but there really isn't an alternative. Apart from hearing what titles are in the top 40, or barring official fiscal results postings, companies are pretty hush hush about how many units they actually sell.

And I'm looking to compare franchises more than I am looking for accurate numbers. As long as VGchartz is somehow equally adjusting sales for all games, it should still hold weight as some kind of legitimate comparison. That's a big if though.

VGchartz always puts up fake sales charts if there's no real sales data, so most of what they have is speculative and fake. Getting sales data from them is like asking a 10 year old kid who's "dad works at Microsoft" for details on the Xbox One.

Thanks TimmiT, its the right approach too. Just because you do not have a better source does not mean you should just throw VGChartz out there either, at that point it becomes nothing more than speculation and eventually misinformation.

Sly 4 I know outsold Fire Emblem in its debut month in the US (So that gives it sales of over 117,000 units) whilst the Ratchet series managed a Greatest Hits label during the Playstation 2 days (So that means each of those titles passed 400,000 units in the US alone) so I do not think people should pretend colourful platformers, or platformers in general, are niche products of some kind. The sales indicate otherwise even taking away Nintendo titles (Sonic is 2 million+, LittleBigPlanet is 4 million+ etc)

Sonic has had 4 TV shows(soon to be 5), an OVA, and a Short that screened in theaters. Not to mentin countless merchandising deals. The Ratchet movie looks like something fueled by the developer's passion, not by popular demand.

so I do not think people should pretend colourful platformers, or platformers in general, are niche products of some kind. The sales indicate otherwise even taking away Nintendo titles (Sonic is 2 million+, LittleBigPlanet is 4 million+ etc)

I never said they were niche, just that they are definitely not the flavor of the day. All of this was just to support the notion that Sonic does alright given the circumstances.

What gave you that impression though? I think the franchise does modestly, but doesn't move copies as well as Sonic. The character just isn't as iconic or popular.

I'm aware that vgchartz isn't 100% accurate but there really isn't an alternative. Apart from hearing what titles are in the top 40, or barring official fiscal results postings, companies are pretty hush hush about how many units they actually sell.

And I'm looking to compare franchises more than I am looking for accurate numbers. As long as VGchartz is somehow equally adjusting sales for all games, it should still hold weight as some kind of legitimate comparison. That's a big if though.

Honestly, it's mostly because Ratchet and Clank has endured as a franchise, in spite of the absence (relative or absolute) of Spyro, Jak, and Crash, Sly Cooper's hiatus and revival notwithstanding. Also, in spite of the decline in colorful protag platformers ( Klonoa). Though this, not without spinoffs and apparently some gameplay focal point changes, which I suppose is relevant in a discussion about 3d platformers. As mentioned the PS2 titles got the Greatest hits labeling, and the original trilogy got a compilation too.

I heard about the movie when it was first announced. The couple of articles that I have seen accompanying that movie's announcement cite a 25 million worldwide sales figure, which I've only ended up tracing to an interview with Insomniac dating a few years back and self-disclosing that figure. That number, though necessarily dated at this point in time, is still often cited, so it's perhaps just conventional wisdom.

The Sonic to Ratchet comparison is not something I can really comment on, I don't really understand it actually. Perhaps in its lifetime Ratchet can't eclipse Sonic's performance, but let us not discount the fact that Ratchet is limited to one platform, while Sonic has often been multiplat recently. I don't know how one gauges the popular demand of Ratchet, because in my mind the appeal is harder to assign a name--broader in age range, a little bit of adolescent and mature humor, stuff like that. I agree that I don't expect Ratchet Monopoly or toys, but I don't know if the people who play Ratchet want monopoly, toys, or a TV show anyway. The audience for Sonic and Ratchet I'm sure have noticeable differences.

As for VGChartz, it's just not a good idea. The alternative in my mind is to scour the net for statements that companies occasionally make.

The Ratchet & Clank series has never been about breaking sales records as it has been about being a consistent seller. And while Tools of Destruction's inability to break out in October is noteworthy, it ultimately says more about the PS3 as a platform. Simply told, if there were more PS3s, more people would've bought Ratchet. Them's the breaks, Clank.

Insomniac Games launched in 1998 with a game based on a kid-friendly purple dragon named Spyro. Since then, the studio's games have sold more than 26 million copies. Here are some of its biggest hits, with the number of titles sold:

I won't deny that Ratchet was a hot property during the ps2 era, but I'm more interested in how they're doing now. The franchise has definitely slowed down, with the latest installments being downloadable experiments or short adventures and the last mainline series entry being a complete break from form. Speaking of which, all I could find on All 4 One's sales other than VGchartz was a figure of 900k copies sold worldwide from the wikipedia article. God only knows where people are getting these numbers.

I only compared it with Sonic because it's one of the only character based platformers left. It was just meant to calm those freaking out about Sonic being irrelevant or not selling well. He sells just fine.

Oh. :D Well I agree then, on what you're talking about (Sonic is still relevant, Ratchet is slower now than he was in the PS2 era) I do think that there are some interesting breakdowns that can be made about how Sonic has maintained its success. I remember reading an interesting post about the success of SA2Battle on the GCN.

As for sales on all 4 one, that's a bummer; it's been a couple years so I would've hoped it'd make some WW numbers a little more likely. I guess not.

Logged

Proud recipient of the second ever Gary Player Award!I support Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia HD ports!

Personally I think Sonic's appearance in the chart dispel the notion that Sonic is "dead" as people were mentioning with Lost World's poor sales. To me it is right down to the fact that the title was released on a struggling platform. If it was released multi-platform as it should have been, I am sure even with how poorly made it is the game would have enjoyed significantly higher sales.

Surprise to see Rome II not make the charts, but between its poor reception and the majority of it's sales coming via digital sales I suppose its not too surprising.

Personally I think Sonic's appearance in the chart dispel the notion that Sonic is "dead" as people were mentioning with Lost World's poor sales. To me it is right down to the fact that the title was released on a struggling platform. If it was released multi-platform as it should have been, I am sure even with how poorly made it is the game would have enjoyed significantly higher sales.

Agreed. Plus, the game is well on its way to half a million sold combined sales, which while not amazing is far from the disaster fans make it out to be.